Remembrances of Roy

From creatives and producers, from partners and proteges, here are some wonderful, funny and inspiring memories from some of the people who worked closely with Roy over the years.

Diane Rothschild

In the beginning there was Doyle Dane Bernbach. 

For the passionate creative people in the early sixties, it was the only place to be. 

Mainly because it was the only place to be. 

The great creative agencies that DDB spawned and inspired had yet to be founded. And the country's most brilliant art directors and writers weren't dispersed through a dozen or so creative departments as they are today. With very few exceptions, they were all on West 43rd Street. 

Roy Grace walked into this hotbed of concentrated talent in 1964. When he left to open Grace & Rothschild 22 years later, he left as Executive Creative Director of DDB Worldwide, and Chairman of the U.S. company. 

In between, Doyle Dane Bernbach left its mark on Roy. And Roy left an indelible mark on both DDB and the entire industry. 

There wasn't then, or in the years that followed, a uniform DDB style. The agency's greatness rested in its ability to attract - and cope with - an assortment of idiosyncratic talents with a spectrum of approaches. On one end was the humanity of Bob Gage. On the other, the cerebral brilliance of Helmut Krone. 

To stand out in this environment was no small accomplishment. But Roy accomplished much more than that. He brought with him a personal vision that added a new edge of wit and urbanity to the DDB creative product. 

And in the process, he produced a string of seminal commercials, from Volkswagon "Funeral" to Alka-Seltzer "Spicy Meatball," that for many people have come to epitomize the golden years at Doyle Dane Bernbach. 

As well they might. 

Twenty-five of "The Hundred Best Commercials of All Time" are Roy's. 

Four of the seventeen commercials in the Museum of Modern Art's permanent collection are Roy's. 

In 1980 one of his commercials was named the single best commercial of the previous two decades. 

And altogether, his advertising has won so much recognition and so many awards that when we opened Grace & Rothschild, a workman looked around Roy's office and decided we were starting a trophy business. 

He wasn't entirely wrong. 

Because the compulsion toward ingenious and dazzling creative have never diminished in Roy. 

Neither have the personal qualities responsible for the quality of his work. 

Roy is intensely disciplined. And wildly inventive. He's innately serious. And constantly funny. He's idealistic. And pragmatic. Infuriatingly stubborn and endearingly flexible. 

Roy is not a simple human being. And he does not do advertising that lends itself to simple analysis. 

For all of its humor, his work is much more than humorous. 

Complex, textured, frequently ironic, Roy's advertising is a sophisticated amalgam of intellect and hilarity. 

That it's in museum collections isn't surprising. I don't know if advertising is, in fact, art, but I do know that Roy's advertising is. 

Too creatively restless for a single, confining technique, he is constantly exploring, pushing, finding not only variations on old forms, but entirely new forms as well. 

The scope of his work spans the zany demonstration of "Gorilla" to the powerful symbolism of Range Rover "Metamorphosis." 

Roy is logical, analytical, and immensely intelligent. He is also fiendishly imaginative and one of the all-time conceptual art directors. 

He is impatient with gimmickry, self-conscious style and any visual fad-of-the-moment. Roy's own graphic inclination is energetic and direct. From typeface to photography, the elements in his ads elegantly and always express the attitude and the message he means to communicate. 

At both Doyle Dan Bernbach and Grace & Rothschild, Roy has been an inspiration to countless art directors and copywriters. But while there is much he can, and has, taught, the simple reality is that Roy's remarkable body of work isn't a product of rules, formulas, or a technique that can be easily imitated. 

It's a product of his own raw talent and refined taste. 

On top of everything else, Roy is also a genuinely thoughtful, generous and gracious man. And to add a personal note to this, I'm grateful that he's both my partner and my friend. 

In fact, I'd call him a creative genius. 

But he'd never let me forget it.

-Diane Rothschild
copywriter/CD/co-founder Grace & Rothschild
from Roy’s One Club Hall of Fame induction, 1994

Bob Matsumoto

Roy enjoyed tennis. We traded many fun volleys at each other.

MY OFFICE WAS NEXT TO HIS.
Roy shouts out: ‘Bob, need your help! I can’t open one of my flat files!”
I walk in, he points to the file. I easily pull in open. It’s lined with 12-15 acrylic cube NY Art Director Gold Medal Awards. He lingers a long smile at me. “One day, you may get... one.”

CROWDED ELEVATOR
I step in, see Roy in the back. As I leave to get off on another floor, he shouts out:
“Hey Bob, don’t forget to deliver my shirts. Medium starch on hangers!”
The door begins to close. Roy is smirking. The crowd is howling. The next day I let him know my feelings. “Roy, that wasn’t funny. I’m Japanese, not Chinese”. Roy: “Bob, nobody knows the difference.”

A BIRTHDAY GREETING
He left a phone message. “ I’m calling to wish you a Happy Birthday. I’m sure you’re enjoying it like all the others...ALONE ”..........(Click)

BEVERLY HILLS HOTEL
Heard Roy was staying there for a TV shoot. Called the front desk to leave him a message. However, I insisted they NOT leave it in the usual box for delivery. NOT to leave it under his door but to HAND DELIVER my note! The person felt the importance. He guaranteed my request would be taken care of. “Sir, I feel the urgency. What is your message ?”

I slowly enunciated: “Mr. Grace, your toupee is ready. MATSUMOTO of Beverly Hills.”

.........................................................................

Bob and Roy in front of Roy’s wall of Volkswagen ads.

INVITATION TO ROY
The LA Creative Club invited Roy to speak at a meeting. When I requested he show his reel, he quickly said: “You want the short reel or the long reel? The short one is an hour long.”

The LA ad community packed Perino’s that evening. I emceed the program. After he showed his great reel, I announced we had collected 4x5 index cards for a Q and A. “Roy, How much do you make a year?” He looks over at me and replies: “More than you will ever make in 3 lifetimes.” The Q and A ended with his words of wisdom and experiences. Because we were a fledgling new club, we didn’t have a nice memento prepared in appreciation for his appearance and presentation.

Instead, behind a black drape, I unveiled the original storyboards of “Funeral”, his drawings and the original typed copy with a couple of penciled copy changes still cleanly tacked.

He was taken aback, shocked. Roy: “This was done 10 years ago! How is it YOU have it?” I smiled and said, “Roy, you’ll never know in 3 lifetimes.”

.........................................................................

One day, Roy wanted me to meet him at the Hills. He introduced me to Diane Rothchild. (I recalled her from DDB days.)  Roy then announced they were opening an agency together. “You’re leaving DDB?”

He nodded the announcement with pride and explained their need to launch an ad in the NY Times  with complete secrecy.  We knew that could not be handled in NYC without it being leaked.  Roy trusted me to take It on for him here in LA.  I gave him my word it would get done. 

Out of curiosity, I asked about the headline and visual.  He quickly scribbled it down on a napkin. 
I slowly looked it over, paused, and a quiet way said:  “Roy, this the best you can do?” 

Roy approved my hiring the photographer Carl Furuta, the casting, the final layout and mechanical.  The ad was produced and ran without a hitch.  I felt he appreciated my help. He would have done it for me. 

One more thing worth noting about Roy is his loyalty. After Carl Furuta did the photo for the launch ad, Roy continued to give him work on Range Rover for over a decade. He was loyal to people who were talented and came through.

.........................................................................

Jerry Della Femina once said: “Advertising is the most fun you can have with your clothes on.”


I’m so glad I experienced it with Roy. Miss him in so many ways.

                    —Bob Matsumoto                       
Senior Art Director
DDB NY 1963-1970 / DDB LA 1971-1974

Grace & Rothschild & Matsumoto circa 1986 prior to the launch of G&R

Evan Stark

The one thing I remember most about Roy Grace is the fun we had working together.

No matter what the problem we were given, we always came up with an answer.

I remember, when we were working together at Doyle Dane, and also at Gilbert, Grace & Stark, we never failed to come up with an answer, even it wasn’t the right one.

I remember that when we worked at DDB, another writer told me that he’d always see Roy and I walking the office and talking and laughing, sometimes with other creative people and other times to ourselves. What puzzled him was that even though we were always just strolling around, whenever there was a screening of new work, Roy and I always had a spot on the reel.

One of the things that saddened us was that when we were working on Alka-Seltzer, we lost the account while Roy and I had 2 new spots finished, but they’d never be seen. And we also has 2 more storyboards that were already approved, but they never were produced.

Another situation that rankled us was the Schick account.

Roy and I did a storyboard with a woman shaving and Susan Calhoun served as the woman shaving. The copy said “If what you’re seeing bothers you, it shouldn’t.  Because it doesn’t bother her either. She’s shaving with a Schick Super Chromium Blade to show you how comfortable it is for her. And if it doesn’t bother a woman like her, it shouldn’t bother a man like you. Schick. The most comfortable a shave a man can get.”

When we showed it to Bill Bernbach, he said it was terrific. Unfortunately, just after we’d shown it to Bill, he called in Ed McNally, the Account Supervisor on the account and he told Bill it was all wrong, so Bill called us back in and told us to go back and do some more thinking.  At that point, Bob Levenson, the Creative Director, told us to lay back and he would go up and tell Bill how terrific he thought the spot was. As it turned out, we learned that instead of praising our thinking, he tried to come up with solutions of his own. We learned that from the Account Executive who was there and was bothered enough by Bob’s treachery to fill us in.

Eventually, we did a spot we both liked and which Bill like also, but it never ran. I don’t even have a copy of that spot, but Roy may have.

Here’s another thing Roy may not have mentioned, but when we were together at G,G&S, I was the only writer, but besides Roy there were two other Art Directors and I did some work with both of them.

Eventually, I got exhausted by new business meetings, writing on our actual accounts and the rest of the work I had to do and I told Gilbert that we needed another writer and he gave us enough money to hire a junior writer, but he didn’t work out. So I told  Gilbert we needed a more senior writer to help out.

At that point, Roy asked me if there was a writer at Doyle Dane we could hire and I told him that Diane Rothschild was the best young writer there, but I wouldn’t hire her because I wasn’t sure how this agency was going to make it. Maybe that influenced Roy and maybe he never even thought about that later after we both left.

Anyway, enough already, but I have one more story you may not have heard about.

This was when we still had the Alka-Account and Roy and I were assigned to write a TV spot for Alka-Seltzer Plus.

Alka-Seltzer Plus was Alka-Seltzer plus an antihistamine and a decongestion. So Roy and I decided to wire a spot with a guy in his underwear on a huge block ice and, sitting in a club chair, his wife wearing a fur coat and finally, it was snowing outside. An ordinary scene, right?

Well, the guy on the ice was holding up a glass with fizzing tablets and his wife is saying “Evan, how long do we have to keep going on like this?” And he says “Until I can catch a cold Priscilla, and see whether this Alka-Seltzer Plus really works.”

He then explains what is in that fizzing glass. “These little guys are the antihistamines and these other fizzing fellows are the decongestions. He then goes on with  his explanation and she complains and asks how long he’s going to go on and he says “Until I have ah-c-c-c-coco-cold at which point he sneezes and she shouts “Now Evan, now!!” So there you have the spot.

Well, Roy and I had trouble with the director and we told him this guy is a nut case and you’re not treating him that way. The Director says I see him as a professorial gentleman and that what I’ve been shooting. So at the lunch break, Roy and I spoke to the studios producer and told him about our problems and after the lunch break, we got what we wanted for the spot.

When we saw the dailies the next day, we realized we had a spot that was like two different but we put it together and showed it to Bill Bernbach and Joe Daly, the President of the agency.

After we screened the spot, Bernbach said he had problems understanding some of the dialogue and could I change some of the words… to which I replied “Change some of the words?” and Bill said “Evan, you’re the writer, you have a typewriter, change some of the words.”

To which I replied “Change some of the words”, and Bill was getting very angry with me until Joe Daly cut in and said “Evan can’t change some of works. They’re speaking on camera and if you change some of the words, it wouldn’t go with the lip movements.” So then Bill asks me “Is that so? “ And I say yes. And that's why the spot never went on the air. 

One more thing. I can’t draw, but Roy could draw anything I wanted him to. So one day, we were asked to do an Alka-Seltzer ad about the product being good for hang-overs, but we couldn’t use those words, so I asked Roy if he could draw a picture of a guy whose head is shaped a Champagne Glass and whose head a cork and Roy drew exactly that.

Then I asked him to draw a different head of a guy whose is shaped like a whiskey glass and the headline I wrote for the ads was “I’ll take Alka-Seltzer or death, whichever comes first.” We showed it to Bob Gage who got it right away, because he was a big drinker, but he said we should show it to Bernbach because Seagram was a big client. Bill liked it a lot, but said he should show it to Edgar Bronfman and naturally, Bronfman turned it down and the ads never ran.

-Evan Stark
DDB 1964-1972

Susan Calhoun Moss

I worked at Doyle Dane Bernbach as a TV Producer with Roy Grace on and off for 15 years.  This was back in 1968 and I was 25 years old when I started.  I probably spent more time with Roy Grace and copywriter, John Noble, than I have spent time with some members of my own family.  I worked with Roy on the accounts of Alka Seltzer, Volkswagen, Mobil and American Tourister.  I produced at least 100 commercials with Roy.

It’s funny about age… It is hard for me to realize that Roy was only 6 years older than I am.  He seemed so much older on our first meeting.  I think that he might have been born looking older… but then, he never changed… he never looked older than the moment that I met him.  When I began working with Roy, he seemed like God.  He had a great sense of confidence.

It was the late 60’s and everyone was trying to find their place, to be the best… to win the awards, the egos were enormous and I jumped in… knowing very little.  It was another lifetime, and exciting and wonderful time for advertising at its height.

Roy was very comfortable in the world of advertising… he understood it, and he knew that he was good.  He was grounded in how he worked and what he wanted done.  The times that I saw him most edgy were when they had to come up with a new campaign… Often he and John Noble or writer, Evan Stark, would test the spots out on me… If I didn’t react well… they would just dismiss me… but I always got called back. 

Roy was an artist and he would draw the most wonderful storyboards.  I saw them as tiny Picassos.  Roy was most happy when he would sit in his office and color in those frames with these wonderful little drawings… he always said that this was his favorite part of the whole process… ‘coloring in.’

Roy saw the next weeks and months ahead as just a matter of all the production problems in getting these… colored in frames… on film. Always the original storyboard that was approved by the client turned out to be the final commercial presented… no changes…  It was the way Roy worked.  One of the examples of this was a time we were in California on a Mobil Oil shoot.

We were to fry and egg on top of the Mobil One Can… as it say on the blazing desert (the idea demonstrating that Mobil Oil tolerates extreme heat).  Roy wanted a wide angle shot making the Mobil Oil Can heroic, surrounded by the cracking hot dry desert.  There was a Bunsen burner inside the can.

We chose the location and set up the shot… but John and Roy had to go back to New York and so I was left to fry the egg… well, the next day, the winds came up and there was no way that egg was going to stay on the can… it kept flying off.  The production company tried umbrellas and tents to protect the egg from the gales, but because of the way the shot was set up, you could see the shadows from the rigs… I called and explained all this to Roy… and asked if we could shift the camera angle a bit… there was this silence… and then… ‘Susan, just get the shot as boarded’… and he hung up.  So, I did.

Roy was very tough on his own work and on others.  There were a few people whose work Roy really admired… as I remember… the work of… Bob Gage, Helmut Krone and Marsha Grace.

Roy was the grown up among us… John Noble, Evan Stark and me.  Looking back, I don’t know how he ever put up with us.  We drove him insane in so many ways.  The thing was that Roy was always there.  He was never sick, he was never away, and he was seldom late.  He was just there.  John, Evan and I disappeared a lot.  John would be out looking for clothes.  Evan had a list from home of things he was to do, and I would want to meet a friend on some corner, or going to have my legs waxed.

I remember going to lunch with Roy and Evan and John, and Roy nudging me to try and maneuver Evan to the inside seat of the restaurant booth so that Evan wouldn’t leave and be gone for the day… but Evan always escaped.  This drove Roy nuts…  We’d spend hours at Stonecutters, The Mix Place, and in casting.  Days, weeks… and Roy was always there while one of us would simply vanish.  We made him crazy… 

Heaven only knows what we talked about, between the throwing of the darts… the picking on each other, the jokes.  But the topics usually included sex, money and Jews… and death.  In all of this, the work bonded us.  The ideas, the campaigns were all so very good.  Even though it was seldom spoken, there was a great deal of affection, caring and respect among us, including the account group, the client and the production people.  Joe Sirola was our voice of choice.  The director, Howard Zieff, was like family… and the editing service with Dick Stone, Stonecutters, was home.

I learned a tremendous amount working with Roy.  A lot about the advertising business, but really what I took away was something that I’ve been able to use in my life.  I watched Roy do it with his work… and his life.  The ability to have an idea or intention, to keep it simple, to believe in it and commit to it, to focus and to follow through.  That’s a major gift to give someone… that kind of mentoring. 

As human beings, we are… of course… our genetics… but, we then become what we make of our experiences.  These are the building blocks of who we are now… Included in our experiences… most importantly, are the people that we have connected to… related to.  The past is never passed.  It becomes a part of us.  One of the joys of having lasting friendships is meeting that friend and reminiscing about shared times… the good, the struggles, the laughter, the learning… It brings those moments back… to embrace them… to perhaps readjust our thinking… to smile…

When I would meet Roy for lunch in the last few years… he would always get around to asking me… ‘Susan, were those years as good as I remember… the work, the friendships, the craziness?’… and I answered every time, ‘Yes, Roy… those years were good… they were really, really good.’

–Susan Calhoun Moss
Executive TV Producer  
Doyle Dane Bernbach 1968 to 1984
from Roy’s Memorial Service in March 2003

Tom Yobage

I first met Roy Grace in 1968 when he was the Vice President – Art Supervisor on Volkswagen at Doyle Dane Bernbach.

Bob Tucker and I had just transferred from Sales Promotion to National Advertising at the agency, working as an art director/copywriter creative team on VW.

We were in awe of Roy’s work. When Bob and I showed Roy our work for approval, we hoped he would say more than just “Yes.”  We wanted him to really like it.

Our secret goal was to do work as good as Roy’s. We never achieved that. But we kept trying.

So I was pleased, surprised, excited, thrilled, happy, proud – all of the above – when one day in 1975, Roy asked me to be his copywriter on the new Bristol-Myers account.  The budget was small at first. But our advertising worked. And Bristol-Myers became one of the biggest, busiest TV accounts in the agency.  In four years, we shot 30 commercials.

In 1979, Roy asked me to be his copywriter on IBM --- copiers, computers, typewriters, word processors. We did everything --- television, magazine, newspaper, radio.  Even the small space.

“This is the kind of advertising we should be doing. And this is the kind of advertising they should be buying,” said Bill Bernbach. That’s all we needed to hear. We kept working.

In 1984, Roy and I teamed up on Volkswagen, introducing the new generation of VWs —- Golf, Jetta, GTI, Cabriolet, Vanagon Camper.

Two years earlier, Roy had been named Chairman, Executive Creative Director of DDB-US, adding a lot more authority and responsibilities to his job.

But knowing Roy, I think the part of his job he still liked best was doing the work. Creating fresh, new, memorable advertising.

Remembering Roy --- some things still stand out.

No matter how high he rose on the corporate ladder, when the two of us worked together as art director and copywriter, Roy always treated me as an equal.

If I had a good idea, we would build a campaign on it. When I had a bad idea, he never crushed me, or put me down. He’d simply say: “Interesting”--- shorthand for Let’s move on.

When we showed work to Bill Bernbach, Roy never used the word “I.” He always said “We.”

And he never pulled rank.

When the two of us each came up with a different approach or idea for a campaign, he’d say: “Let’s do both.” In fact, we showed Bristol-Myers three different ideas.

I had a side job at Doyle Dane Bernbach. When a college or university requested a guest speaker from the agency, I often got the assignment.

They all wanted to know: “What’s it like to work for Bill Bernbach?” “How do you make a Doyle Dane Bernbach ad?”

I liked to end each talk with a question and answer session. And standing there, in front of the students, I noticed Roy’s name often popped up in my answers.

As in:

“Great question.  The best answer I can give you is something Roy Grace once told me….”

Or:

“We had that same problem.  And Roy Grace solved it by….”

Or:

“I remember Roy Grace always telling the account guys: ‘Playing it safe is the most dangerous thing you can do.’”

That’s when I realized --- all those years, I wasn’t just working with Roy Grace. I also was learning from Roy Grace.

                          –Tom Yobage
Executive Vice President - Creative Director
Doyle Dane Bernbach 1966 - 1993

Chip Sleeper

Just about every day for 15 years, Roy and Diane had lunch together. I tried to join them as often as I could, because if I wasn’t there, they just had too much time to figure out all the things I wasn’t doing right.

The conversation was always interesting. Family, politics, DDB. Every so often the conversation would head off in a direction, and Roy would light up and say, “I’ll never forget this…” and he’d tell a story about Nick or Jess, Bill Bernbach, or some other old friend.

So I have a couple of stories about Roy that maybe some of you haven’t heard yet, stories that give me a chance to say, “I’ll never forget this.”

Roy loved having his kids around. I’ll never forget this…

One day he was sitting in the bullpen, surrounded by creatives. Jess stopped by the agency to visit, walked up to Roy and kissed him on top of his head, and then stood there rubbing is head. Roy just beamed. Of course the creative guys walked away saying, I can’t believe that, she was actually touching him.

Roy loved that Nick, almost single-handedly, brought G&R into the digital age. And was very proud of the job Nick was doing. He did suspect, however, that Nick’s zeal was because he liked to buy cool stuff with his father’s money.

How many of you know that Roy was a tough guy?…you can take the kid out of the Bronx, but you can’t take the Bronx out of the kid.

We had a new business meeting on 57th Street, and as we left the office on 48th Roy said let’s walk. After a short debate with Diane, we set off. A few blocks later, as we were crossing the street, a car nudged Roy’s leg. Roy glared at the driver, who continued to move forward and bumped his leg again. Roy walked around to the driver’s window and “tapped” the glass with the palm of his hand. Smashed the window. The driver hopped out, took a look at Roy, and climbed back into his car. 

Diane said, “this is why I take taxis.” 

Roy was stubborn, he wouldn’t give up. He loved to compete, but had no interest in competing against easy marks. Every Thursday morning for 15 years Roy reserved a tennis court at the UN Plaza. That’s 780 Thursdays. Let’s assume he missed 80 weeks on vacation or out of town, or when he cut his knee with a chain saw. That’s 700 times he played tennis with Gene Willhoft and Tom Gianfagna, Rob Strasberg and Neal Hughlett. HE NEVER WON ONCE. 700 times he’d come back to the office and say “Diane, I was this close.” Or “Chip, I had him today.” But he never stopped playing against the best, and he never stopped getting better.

I’ll never forget Roy talking Charlie in off the ledge on a commercial he was trying to kill. Or the ease with which he could find a simple, elegant solution to the toughest problems. Or how this intensely private man managed to touch so many people.

One last story. Most of you know that Roy had an incredible work ethic, and just couldn’t understand when people wouldn’t work as hard as he did. One of my favorite Roy stories was one that he would tell, “I’ll never forget this”, he’d say…

In July 1977 the lights went out in NYC and all across the region. With the power still off the next day, DDB was closed. Roy’s long-time partner, John Noble, was in California working on a shoot.

The following week, John was back from California, and Roy was in the office looking for John to work. But John wasn’t in. Roy called him at home and said, “John, where are you?” John explained that since he hadn’t been in NYC the week before, he was taking this day as his “blackout” day. 10 years later, Roy was still incredulous.

Roy, wherever you are, I know you won’t approve. But I’m taking tomorrow as my blackout day… because, for me, the brightest light has gone out.

–Chip Sleeper (from Roy’s memorial March 2003)
Founder/Partner
Grace & Rothschild 1986-2000

Jim Scalfone

the fact that roy was
the best television art director
in the history of advertising...
was only the tip of his iceberg 

what most people didn't know
was how many other things roy had mastered...
he was an accomplished
carpenter
electrician
mason
plumber
cartoonist
fine artist
writer...
he seemed to master any endeavor he undertook
he was truly a renaissance man 

but the thing i loved most about what roy mastered
was his sense of humor...
he was dry, sharp, incisive and lovingly disrespectful... 

like the first time roy took me to lunch,
as we were leaving he called out to his secretary
"carol, i'm taking jim to lunch, i'll be back in 20 minutes...
or the first time he gave me a raise, i seemed happy, so he said
"jim, my maid makes more than you"...
and when i mentioned to him
that another agency was interested in hiring me he said,
"tell them we'll pay half your salary... 

he was also enormously generous
bringing me to, shoots, edits, and voice over sessions
i watched him make advertising history
and became part of it
by pasting meatballs onto bowls of spaghetti
for one of his storyboards
he went on vacation one summer
and let me cover a commercial called "funeral"
he was that confident in his work... 

for those of us who worked for or alongside roy
it was tough love all the way
and sometimes it was just tough,
like the time i walked into his office one day
looking for sympathy for something stupid i did,
i said "roy when i tell you what i did, your gonna want to fire me",
he said "jim, be careful you’re talking to hitler"
which kept the total amount of times he fired me at 3... 

but  i came to realize
roy was simply demanding a level of excellence from others
that he demanded from himself... 

he demanded that excellence from himself when he was confronted with the battle of his life
he kept what he was going through to himself, never complained, didn't change and never lost his sense humor... 

he was truly heroic to the end... 

if God judges us on how well we used the gifts he gave us
i'm sure he will be well pleased with roy,
because not only did he fulfill his enormous potential with masterful success,
he filled the people around him with an inspiration that shaped their lives 

roy succeeded in finding a special place in the advertising hall of fame, the museum of modern art,
but most of all in the hearts of all those people who loved him so much... he is irreplaceable 

and i'd like to add on more thing to that list of things he mastered...
he was my hero

–Jim Scalfone
Associate Creative Director
Doyle Dane Bernbach 1968-1987

Michael mangano

In my twenty-one years at Doyle Dane Bernbach, I worked with Bob Gage, Helmut Krone, Bert Steinhauser, Bill Taubin, Charlie Piccirillo, etc., etc., etc.

But I never worked with Roy Grace.

To my regret.

But there’s no need for me to talk about his remarkable talent, it’s common knowledge in the advertising community. Whenever he did something new, it was a surprise.

But the one thing Roy did that surprised me the most had nothing to do with advertising. It had to do with, well, human sensitivity.

You see, Roy and I were friendly colleagues, but we weren’t close friends. Which is why Charlie Piccirillo (my soon-to-be brother-in-law, at the time) didn’t invite Roy to my very small bachelor party.  

Much to Charlie’s surprise, Roy told him that he was hurt that he wasn’t invited and that he’d very much like to attend. 

Which he did. To my surprise. And delight, I might add. I was truly touched.

I saw Roy in a whole different light after that. A whole different side of him. 

I truly hope others, as well, had occasion to see that Roy.

–Michael Mangano
Executive Vice President, Creative Director
Doyle Dane Bernbach 1965-1986

Gary goldsmith

In January of 1981, having just graduated from Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, I went to New York to begin my career. Before leaving, our department chair had asked us each to make a list of the top ten places we wanted to work.

I wrote Doyle Dane Bernbach ten times.

After living with award show books as my constant companions in school, Roy, as well as Helmut Krone and Bob Gage, had begun inspiring me long before we ever met.

And when I got to New York, I dropped my portfolio off at 437 Madison and waited for a call. It finally came from Nat Waterston, asking if I could come to the office and meet with Roy.

Meet with Roy? Roy Grace? Is this for real?

I remember our conversation in his sunny, corner office on the eighth floor as being very casual and relaxed, talking a little about my work, about Doyle Dane and about California.

Then, out of nowhere, Roy said, “So, two other guys from your school dropped off their portfolios here. Which one of you is the best?

Caught off guard and faced with the prospect of looking either immodest or unconfident, I replied, “I am.”

Roy smiled.

I got hired.

And months later, I heard from John Noble that Roy had liked my response.

From the very beginning, I think Roy and I understood each other.

And throughout my time at DDB, Roy was incredibly supportive and generous with his time and advice.

Perhaps, as far as he was concerned, occasionally a little too generous. Once he told me, “Gary, the assignments you choose to turn down are as important as the ones you accept.”

Not long after, I turned down an awful sounding Polaroid assignment that had the makings of a wasted 3 months.

Roy stopped by my office.

Roy: “ I heard you turned down that Polaroid trade assignment…why?”

Me: “I just took your advice.”

Roy: “I knew I shouldn’t have told you that.” (with a smirk)

After four and a half years of learning, growing and taking in all of the experiences I could at DDB,

I got a call from Jay Chiat, which led to an offer to become a Creative Director at their newly formed New York office.

It wasn’t a difficult decision from a business perspective…it was clear that DDB’s best days were behind it and Chiat/Day was on the rise.

But it was a difficult decision in that I didn’t relish the thought of leaving Roy’s mentorship or disappointing him.

By the time I went up to his office on the eleventh floor to resign, I had convinced myself that he probably saw the same things going on around us that I did and would understand and encourage me to take the next step in my journey.

I was wrong.

When I told him about my decision, he said, “Gary, you are making the biggest mistake of your career.”

I held firm and he graciously accepted it then wished me well. I thanked him and we parted with a warm handshake.

And then a funny thing happened.

Less than a year later, I got a call at Chiat/Day one morning from a writer/friend I had worked with at DDB.

“Roy is leaving. He’s starting his own agency.”

I waited a couple of days for the news to settle, and then called the new Grace & Rothschild to congratulate Roy.

When he picked up and said “Hi Gary”, I said, “Roy, you are making the biggest mistake of your career.”

He laughed loudly, and we made a plan to meet for lunch.

And that began the second part of our relationship.

We had lunch a few times a year, catching up, talking about the business, his family, the people we knew and all other topics.

When I opened my own agency, Roy was very encouraging and we had yet another commonality to share.

It’s rare that anyone gets to come full circle and have a true friendship with an early mentor and hero. I feel fortunate to have had that with Roy, and only wish it could have continued much longer.

I’ll close by saying that while I had complete trust in Roy’s creative judgement, there were times he would kill work that I liked. He was patient enough to let me bring it back and push for it two or three times, after which he would kill it with finality and say, “Gary, someday you’ll thank me for this.”

Yes Roy, I do thank you.

But not just for that.

For the inspiration, the opportunities, the advice, and our friendship.

Gary Goldsmith 
Vice President/Associate Creative Director 
DDB 1981-1985

Gary Cohen

I had the privilege of working with Roy Grace for 10 years—during the Grace & Rothschild era. I’ve never laughed so much in my career, learned so much in my craft, and respected a man so much in my life. Roy was my mentor, often my partner, and always my friend. I think most of us who worked at G&R over the years would agree about what made Roy so unique. Genius and human decency were interwoven in his DNA. A rare combination in an ad man. In the ad business. Or any business for that matter.

When it comes to Roy, stories abound.

He could deliver a critique that was far more inventive than the work itself. I remember a particular instance when I was having a hard time coming up with an idea for a Range Rover dealer ad. Must have presented 10 times. And 10 times, the magic just wasn’t there. “I must be jinxed” I said to Roy. “Gary, at this point, you’ve run out of jinx”, he responded. We laughed and eventually an idea emerged. Another instance when I was stuck on an ad, I was at the point when anything Roy said I thought was a great idea. I was fishing. He knew it. “Gary, if I said blubber rolls uphill, you’d like it” Roy quipped. Laughter ensued. Including my own.

In meetings, when I said something stupid, Roy would kick my leg under the conference room table. I was going to surprise him once by wearing a shin guard under my pant leg. I never got around to it but I think it would have brought a smile to his face. After all, so many things did.

Roy was drawn to laughter like an iron filing to a magnet. Wherever people were laughing, he would show up in a matter of seconds.

Both he and Diane had an open door policy at the office. With few exceptions. One accountant had a bad habit of barging in on us while we were working. Roy said that the accountant’s extension cord should be shortened by about 20 feet.

I think I speak for everyone that worked at G&R when I say that Roy was beloved and we were so lucky that, of all the years we could have been born, and all the places we could have worked, our lives and careers happened to coincide with his.

While looking through art directors’ portfolios, he often said he was waiting for the next Gary Goldsmith to walk into his office. Not a day goes by when I don’t wish—if only for one more time— Roy Grace would walk back into mine.

-Gary Cohen 
ACD/writer
Grace & Rothschild 1990-2000

Madeleine Miller

I never worked with Roy at Doyle Dane. Of course, I knew of him, but I was never put on an account where he and I were in the same meeting. His reputation was huge, and perhaps a little intimidating.

When I got the opportunity to join G&R as their first Director of Planning, it was such a perfect job. But I was still a little nervous around Roy. As soon as I started, we were invited to pitch the Mobil 1 account, which Roy had handled at DDB. I knew nothing about motor oil. To get at a strategy, I did a few focus groups. From that, I thought I had the start of an insight and potential idea.

And that’s when I learned what made Roy so special. Working with him as we talked through the issue, and he started to play with it…for me, that’s the magic of great Creative. I was afraid he was all ego, that he’d never listen to someone like me. But he took my thoughts and turned the insight into absolutely brilliant work. We won the account.

–Madeleine Miller
Director of Account Planning 
Grace & Rothschild 1994-1998

Allen Richardson

I remember the ad that made me want to work for Roy Grace and Diane Rothschild. It was “Can you spot the Range Rover in this picture?” I saw it in the brand new One Show Annual and knew this was the place for me. I wanted to do work like this—smart, witty and classic.

Suddenly there was an opening—G&R was hiring. I sent my book and got a call that Roy wanted to meet. He went through my book and pointed out the weak point of each ad. Then he offered me the job. Maybe it was a negotiating tactic.

He sent me to Chip to negotiate my salary saying, “I don’t know what a pack of gum costs.” Next, I was taken into Diane’s office where I met her, confirmed with Roy that this was in fact a done deal, and got out of there before anything broke the spell. I then went directly to the One Club Christmas party where I bragged to all my friends. Roy and Diane showed up; she was on the Board at that time. I nodded to them and they nodded back. See? I had proof.

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I knew a lot about Roy before I worked there—DDB, VW, Spicy Meatball—but learned much more while I was there.

During the time Roy was at Doyle Dane Bernbach, it was the advertising equivalent of the 1927 Yankees with possibly the most talented bench of all time: Helmut Krone, Bob Gage, Phyliss Robinson, Bill Taubin, and on and on. And of all the legendary talent in that department, Bill Bernbach made Roy the head creative overseeing the entire department.

I’m going to say that again so it sinks in. Bill Bernbach made Roy the head creative of the DDB creative department.

The problem was Roy got too far away from the work–and he was happiest when he was doodling in his sketchbook and thinking up big ideas. I heard Roy would sneak off and work on things like IBM and get in trouble with Bill for doing so.

At some point, both Roy and Diane had enough and started their own shop, Grace & Rothschild, along with a talented young account guy, and expert negotiator, Chip Sleeper. And Roy started doing the work again in earnest—on new accounts like Range Rover, Whittle Communications, and Solomon Brothers, and old favorites who returned to the fold like Mobil Oil.

Into his late 50’s, he was still getting work into the One Show on a consistent basis, which at the time was almost unheard of.

And that’s what I walked into. G&R was a small shop—never more than 50 people total. The beauty for me was I could walk right into his office. There was no wait to see him, no executive assistants standing guard outside his door. Just Roy and Diane doing their thing and making yours better.

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There are two moments that sum up my time with Roy.

The first was when I was new to the agency. As part of the Range Rover account, besides the colorful magazine ads, we always had to do a lot of quick turnaround B&W newspaper ads for the dealers to run. For one project, my partner and I came up with a bunch of ideas that were clever headlines above a stock picture of the Range Rover, just sitting there on white.

Roy wasn’t thrilled. He believed in the power of the visual idea. As an art director himself, he also believed that visual ideas reflected strongly on the Art Director’s contribution. So for me in particular, this work was a fail. He made this clear during our meeting. Abundantly clear. Exceedingly clear. And as he was walking back down the hall, he turned around and said “You know Allen, our clients pay us to be creative.”

Ouch. I worked hard to up my visual thinking and slowly redeem myself in Roy’s eyes.

A few years later, I was working on another batch of those Range Rover dealer ads. There was a new person on the client side who didn’t love us and was always looking for a reason to criticize and sandbag us. I wasn’t too stressed because I had developed a knack for doing clever, interesting stuff quickly.  

It was a Friday and Alice the receptionist said Roy was on the phone for me. I picked up and we discussed the increased pressure for the agency to really deliver. Roy finally said, “I need a bunch of those Allen Richardson ads.”

What’s the opposite of ouch? It was such a high compliment to me that he would reference a certain level of work as an “Allen Richardson ad” that I’ll never forget it.

After my first two jobs in advertising, where I stayed for around 12 months each, I stayed at G&R for 9½ years. In talking to Gary Goldsmith for this site, he said he had different relationships with Roy. First, Roy the Boss. Later, Roy the Friend he would occasionally meet for lunch.   

Sadly, I never got to that Friend phase. One, I was young enough that I was always a little intimidated. Two, I took a job out of town. Three, Roy got sick and was gone too soon. I never made my way back before it was too late.

Cut to me a year later taking Diane Rothschild to lunch at the Union Square Café. (I guess the theme of this last section is I learn from my mistakes.)

Decades later, I’m still a huge fan of “Can you spot the Range Rover in this picture?” And VW. And Spicy Meatball. Hopefully, this site will keep the incredible work Roy and his talented partners created alive for people to discover for years to come.

Allen Richardson
ACD/Art Director
Grace & Rothschild 1991-2000